


Things To Come

by Cat_Moon



Category: Moonlight (TV)
Genre: Christmas, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-06-27 01:28:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19780432
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cat_Moon/pseuds/Cat_Moon
Summary: Moonlight does Charles Dickens.





	Things To Come

**Author's Note:**

> You know the drill: written 2007, posted to ML boards. Takes place after “Sleeping Beauty”. In this story, the last two eps of season one do NOT exist.

The rain had been coming down for a solid day now. And they say it never rains in California. Mick scowled in the general direction of the window, even knowing a vampire should be happier with rain than sun. Besides, it fit his mood. He’d hoped a good pint of blood would improve his disposition, but it hadn’t. _Life sucks,_ he decided. Even for the undead. He told himself he had no idea why he was in such a foul mood, but that was a lie. The euphoria he’d experienced in New York had vanished just as quickly as Beth had, leaving him conflicted and out of sorts. He wanted to believe in the cure so badly…but he was afraid to get his hopes up again and risk being left with the inevitable fall.

_Is it inevitable?_

There was no work to distract him, no one would come calling with a case today. Josef was still in New York. Beth was with Josh. The silence of his sanctuary that was usually comforting was oppressing instead. Hoping for a distraction, he turned on the television. Mistake. Quickly flipping through the channels it seemed every station was playing some Christmas program or another. _It’s a Wonderful Life, yeah, sure._ Scrooge. Well, that one was okay, except for the ending. Christmas was for humans. He left it on anyway, for background noise. He’d turn it off when Scrooge started getting all sentimental.

_Am I starting to sound like Josef?_ Then he thought of Sarah, and decided he didn’t know which one of them he felt sorrier for: Josef or himself.

Normally the holidays didn’t bother him much. This year was different, for some reason.

_Don’t lie to yourself. You know the reason it’s different._

Mick had a ritual that he religiously performed every year. Just on this one day of the year, he would call Josef and have him send over one of his freshies. Just this one day, he would remind himself of what he really was, and lose himself in the taste of the fresh blood, the feel of the pulse beneath his mouth, forget the world of the living and his longing to be part of it. No memories of the past would intrude in his darkness. This year he was denied even this small ritual. Even if Josef had been home, he wouldn’t have done it this year.

Mick flopped down on the couch with a glass of Scotch, turning a sour eye to the screen. “Keep dreaming, Scrooge,” he muttered. The television droned on, mixing with the sound of the rain on the roof. For a moment he lost himself in the noise, blanking his mind of all thought.

And the next thing he knew he was standing up and almost spilling his drink, startled by a noise in the corner of the room. _What the hell?_

“Who’s there?!” he demanded. Which was impossible, because no one could sneak up on a vampire, and all the security was locked up tight.

A man stepped forward into the light, smiling at him.

“Who the hell are you?” Didn’t smell vamp...uh oh, didn’t smell human either.

“I’m your Guardian Angel. My name is—“

“Clarence?!” Mick started laughing, until he was doubled over with it. It somehow didn’t sound like real laughter though; it had a scary edge to it, even to his own ears. “Vampires don’t have guardian angels.”

“Yes, they do. What matters is not what you’re given in life, but what you make of it. A lot of people would be dead if it weren’t for you, Mick St. John. Including Beth.” Mick’s head snapped up involuntarily at the name. “I could take you around, show you all those lives you’ve touched for the better after you died. Those you saved.”

“What about those I didn’t?” Mick snapped.

Clarence shook his head. “You think thoughts like that make you special? That there aren’t humans and vampires all over the world struggling with those same thoughts right now? Police, and doctors, and private detectives, and fire fighters… It’s a fact of life for those who have dedicated themselves to protecting the public.”

“Whatever,” Mick said shaking his head in disinterest.

“As I was saying,” the angel continued, unperturbed. “I could do that – but I know it wouldn’t do much good. Do you know why?”

“I guess you’re gonna tell me.”

“Because you’re selfish.” Mick snapped his head up again in disbelief. “And your concern is much closer to home. Personal. You’d sacrifice all those people you saved, if you could go back in time and undo the past.”

“No!” Mick denied, not sure it was the truth, but thinking of Beth. Josef had said he’d felt he’d lived long enough to find Sarah; Mick had lived to save Beth ( _but would she have even needed saving if not for you?_ A little voice taunted him). “I’ll take a Christmas miracle cure now though, if you’ve got one.”

“And then we could go into the future, and I could show you all the people you might have saved, because of the special advantages and strengths you have as a vampire, but didn’t get saved because the human wasn’t able. Including Beth.”

“What do you want from me?” Mick implored. “Are you just here to torture me, or what?”

“No, actually, I’m here to tell you that you’re going to be visited by three ghosts tonight.”

“You gotta be kidding me.”

“Angels don’t kid. Not on the clock, anyway. You’ll see—“

“Yeah, I know the story: Christmas past, present, future. Right. Thanks for the head’s up.”

Clarence shook his head. “Have fun then.”

\--And Mick found himself still sitting on the couch, glass of liquid still in his hand. That was weird. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d fallen asleep outside the freezer, and while he did have dreams, something about the whole thing was just strange. He shook his head to clear it, and looked around. Scrooge was still being Scrooged, in fact it didn’t seem like any time had passed at all, as if he’d just dozed for a second. Well, dreams often seemed longer when in reality only lasted seconds.

Deciding he didn’t need any more of the liquor tonight, he set it on the table and leaned back, trying to make sense of the bizarre turn of his consciousness.

XXX

This time he swore he hadn’t been asleep. Another noise, this one coming from upstairs. He turned his head to see a women coming down the stairs. She was dressed all in white from head to toe, and her dress seemed to shimmer in the darkness. Mick recognized her immediately.

“You’re Sarah.” He thought ghosts were supposed to be dead. Sarah wasn’t… exactly.

“I’m the ghost of Christmas past,” she corrected. “I’m here to take you on the first part of your journey.”

“What if I don’t wanna go?”

The ghost didn’t answer, but she didn’t have to because before he’d even finished the sentence, he found himself standing in a familiar bedroom, but one he hadn’t seen in many years. It was Beth’s, the one she had as a little girl, the one she’d been taken from.

Beth was sitting on the edge of the bed, and her mother stood over her. “Time to say your prayers and get to bed, Beth, you know Santa won’t be able to come unless you’re asleep.”

“Okay, mommy.” The little girl knelt down in the floor beside the bed.

“Don’t forget to say a prayer for the nice man who saved you.”

“My guardian angel,” Beth said excitedly.

“That’s right.”

“And he’s always watching over me, right?”

“That’s right dear. You’re always safe.” Her mother bent over to kiss her, and then left the room.

Beth began to pray. “Dear Jesus, please bless mommy and daddy, and grandma, and everyone in the world. And especially bless my guardian angel, who saved me from that bad lady. I know he’s watching over me, I can feel him. And God, please let me see him again someday. Thank you, and in Jesus name we pray Amen.”

“And God answered her prayers,” Sarah/ghost observed almost reverently.

“No, God didn’t answer her prayers,” Mick spat with self loathing. “I stalked her for a couple of decades, then after she got the job reporting for Buzz Wire and I—I decided to let her see me, instead of staying the hell away from her like I should have. She has no idea what I really am.”

“You were connected, even then, Sarah said, nodding to the young child. “Such a special and rare gift, to find your soulmate. It’s worth anything. Believe me. We have no regrets.”

“We?” Mick challenged her, his eyes never straying from the little girl who was, oblivious to them, drifting off the sleep with a slight smile on her face.

“When a woman finds her man, the love of her life… nothing else matters. Being without him hurts more than any pain from the difficulties in the relationship.”

“Are you telling me you would make the same decision again, even knowing your turning wouldn’t work and you’d lose each other?”

“We had one beautiful year together. My only regret is the pain is causes Josef.”

“I can’t believe you…” Mick whispered, while part of him longed to do just that…

“Maybe you don’t know as much as you think you do, Mick St. John. About destiny, and soul mates… and vampires.”

XXX

When Mick was next aware, he was staring into the flames of his glass fireplace. They were blurry. Somehow in those days things were so simple and easy. Watching over Beth had become his mission in life, his reason for existing. These days his mission seemed to be trying to protect her from _him_ , and in this matter it seemed, the flesh was weak. He wasn’t doing a very good job of it.

He’d never heard of vampires having hallucinations, but he supposed maybe the blood he’d had was bad somehow. It had tasted fine though, just like always. Maybe he was just cracking up. Again though, he’d never heard of any vampires going insane. If they were crazy, it was because they’d been that way before the turning. He wondered if he should be comforted or not by that.

Resigned, he waited for the ghost of Christmas present to arrive. Mick both welcomed and dreaded this one. Not hearing from Beth since New York, he had no idea what was going on there. It tormented him. Did it mean she had had enough of his world and was sticking with Josh? Or did he still have a chance with her? He was terrified of both possibilities.

The ghost of Christmas present appeared in front of him with no warning. She was dressed in a gold miniskirt, and her gold and diamond jewelry glittered with the fire’s flames.

“Lola!”

“I am the ghost of Christmas present,” she intoned, then scowled. “I can’t believe they’re making me say this crap.”

“I didn’t know there were vampire ghosts. There’s a scary thought.”

“Oh, I’m not a ghost, darling,” she told him, running her hand down his arm. She sure didn’t feel like a ghost; he could feel her touch. “In fact, I’m not dead either.”

“What?” he asked sharply.

She laughed. “Oh come now, you didn’t really think you’d killed me, did you? Such an arrogant child, to think a baby such as yourself was strong enough to take someone with my age and experience out so easily? Or is that just typical male pride?” She shook her head. “I moved on. “Which is exactly what you need to do. Accept how things are, or move on.”

“Excuse me if I’m not jumping to take advice from _you_ ,” he quipped.

“Oh, you’ll take it. Lola always knows. It’s time.”

No sooner had she made her pronouncement than they were outside of a door he knew almost as well as his own: Beth’s apartment. Fear gripped him at what he might find inside.

“I uh, don’t really want to go in there. I mean, we’re intruding, and—“

“Silly boy, you know you want to.” She grabbed his arm and tugged, and they were passing through the door.

The apartment was tastefully decorated for the holiday. There was a small tree on the table, and garland hung over the windows and doorways. Beth sat at the table with a cup of coffee in front of her. He avidly took in her features, just now realizing how much he’d missed her. She looked stressed, angry. Tired.

Josh walked over to her. “Look, I keep feeling like we’re going around in circles here. Nothing gets resolved. I tell you how I’m feeling, you tell me I’m imagining things, and I let you get away with it.”

“So what do you want from me?” she asked.

“The truth would be nice.”

Beth sighed. “The truth is…complicated. I haven’t lied to you, but no matter how many times I tell you that, you don’t seem to believe me.”

“Maybe,” Josh conceded. “But you’ve kept things from me.”

“Nothing to do with you,” she insisted.

“Nothing to do with me? I’m your boyfriend. Did you ever stop to think that anything that happens in your life _does_ have to do with me?”

It seemed like Beth didn’t have an answer for that one, she just looked at him a little helplessly.

“Yet Mick St. John has the answers to these questions, doesn’t he?”

Beth looked a little alarmed at that, as if thinking Josh might decide to confront him for the answers. “You keep bringing him up like he’s the single reason our relationship is in trouble.”

_I’m not?_ Mick thought.

“Like he’s not?” Josh asked.

“You know better than that,” she snapped. “He’s just a convenient excuse. If I’d never met him, I still would have covered the same stories I have since starting at Buzz Wire – and you’d still be giving me grief over them. “

“Well, not really,” Lola interjected. “Since she’d be dead now, killed by that vamp-wannabe's TA, because you wouldn’t have been there to save her.”

“Fine. I get it,” Mick said, a little crossly, tuning back into the unfolding drama at Beth’s.

Beth was holding up a hand to halt Josh’s interruption. “It’s not Mick and you know it, you just don’t want to deal with the truth. You don’t respect my career, and you resent the amount of time I spend on it. You’d rather have me at home, being the little woman.”

“Not that again,” Josh said. Sounded like it was an old argument. “I think I’ve been damned patient and understanding.”

“But your patience is running out, isn’t it? Back when we first talked about the marriage and family issue, I thought I was doing the right thing when I agreed to wait and see where our relationship went. Now…”

“Now?”

Beth sighed. “I get the feeling your patience is starting to run out, but I’m just starting out in my career...and my feelings on the subject haven’t changed. I don’t think they’re going to.”

“You can’t mean that,” Josh denied. “You’re young yet—“

“I’m not so young that I don’t know what I want out of life...and what I don’t want. “

“You’re telling me you never want kids? A family of your own?” Josh asked skeptically.

“She doesn’t want kids?” Mick said in some surprise.

“Imagine that,” Lola answered drolly. “A woman who doesn’t cream her pants at the notion of staying barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen.”

Beth shook her head. “I told you that early in our relationship. You didn’t believe me then and you don’t believe me now, but that’s not going to change the truth. I know society thinks I’m some kind of freak, but believe it or not, there are plenty of women out there who don’t want to have children. Call us selfish or whatever, but we certainly have the right to decide what we do with our own bodies. You want those things – go find a woman who wants the same as you do.”

“I like your Beth!” Lola pronounced. “You should turn her.”

“Shh…” Mick hissed.

“They can’t hear us,” she put in unnecessarily.

“I can,” Mick answered.

“That sounds like a goodbye,” Josh noted.

“Maybe it is,” Beth said, her voice breaking slightly. “I’m so tired, Josh. Tired of us always at odds over something. It just doesn’t seem like its working out, does it?”

Josh looked at her for a long moment. “I was hoping… things would get better,” he admitted. “Instead, they seem to have gotten worse.”

“We’ve been together a year now. Do you really want to waste more of your time on someone who has no plans to settle down anytime soon and may very well never have?”

“I love you,” Josh returned quietly. “I didn’t consider it time wasted.”

“And now?”

“Now… maybe you’re right,” Josh admitted. “We’ve been drifting further apart, our lives going in different directions. I do want a wife who will be there when I get home from a hard day at the office, and support me. I want to be number one with her, not play second to her career. “

“You deserve that,” Beth told him.

“So I guess that’s it, then,” Josh said.

“I guess so,” Beth agreed, wrapping her arms around herself and visibly struggling to hold back tears.

“What kind of a jerk breaks up with a woman on Christmas eve?” Mick asked angrily, hands itching to find their way around Josh’s neck.

“Poor thing,” Lola agreed. “She needs someone special, to make her feel better.”

Mick turned to give Lola a long, hard look…

And found himself back in his apartment again, alone. This time, he had a lot to think about. It was one of the things that haunted him, that he couldn’t give Beth a ‘normal’ life, like a normal man. But maybe she didn’t want that? She already accepted him as he was, nothing, not even finding out he’d stalked her had changed her opinion of him. Maybe, she could want what he had to offer…

The arrival of the ‘ghost’ of Christmas future was frightening. There was a knock at Mick’s door, but when he looked up at the security camera, no one was visible on the screen. He stood there, uncertain, until another more impatient knock sounded. Deciding to take a chance, he threw open the door.

The figure was dressed all in black. Black jeans and a black hooded sweatshirt with the hood pulled over, obscuring its face.

“Christmas future, I presume,” Mick quipped to lighten his nervousness. This part never ended well.

The figure tossed back his hood and stared Mick in the eyes. It was Josh.

“What are you doing here?” Mick gasped, for a moment wondering if this wasn’t part of the dream/hallucination/vision, but actually Josh Lindsey standing there.

“I am here to show you the future,” Josh/apparition said, still staring at him in that intense, uncomfortable way.

“Crap.”

XXX

It was dark in the cemetery. Rain drizzled down incessantly, and the fog swirled at their feet. Mick’s feet were rooted to the spot.

“Look, I get it okay. You can go home now; I understand what you’re all saying. I need to accept myself, blah blah blah. I need to give Beth and me a chance, check. We don’t have to do this part.”

“You need to see,” Josh answered.

And then, Mick had no choice because even though he’d dug in and refused to walk even a step, he found himself gliding forward with Josh, over the grassy ground.

They stopped at a tombstone, and even though Mick didn’t want to look, he couldn’t look away.

Part of him had been hoping it was his, might actually be a relief. But he wasn’t to be spared: it was Beth’s.

Beth Turner

1981-2013

Only six years from now.

“No!” he wailed in anguish, falling down on his knees, sinking slightly into the wet earth.

“She was on a story, got in over her head. I guess maybe she was a little reckless, still acting as if she had a ‘protector’ watching over her every moment. You weren’t there to save her,” Josh told him. “Because you’d convinced yourself she was safer without you in her life.”

“This can’t happen,” Mick vowed. “I haven’t spent all these years watching over her for it to end this way!”

“Listen Mick, I’m not blind, or stupid. I see what’s going on, even though you both keep denying it. I love Beth. I don’t want her to end up like this, it’s not right and it’s not fair. So you need to get over whatever hang ups you have now. Be there for her,” Josh implored. “You can be, the way I never could. She needs you.”

Mick caressed the cold, hard stone. “Yes…”

XXX

Mick was never so glad to find himself back in his apartment. This time the tears were streaming down his eyes. Without giving himself time to think, he grabbed his coat and keys and tore out of the door.

A few speed limits were broken on the drive to her apartment building. Mick ran up the stairs instead of taking the elevator, but slowed as he walked down the hall to her door, slightly uncertain now. His senses told him she was alone. He raised his hand but instead of knocking, placed his palm gently against for door. At the very same moment, he heard her whisper his name, and, startled, he jerked his hand away.

Resolutely, he knocked, and held his breath until she answered. In the instant before her face showed recognition, he saw the glimpse of sadness, loneliness. It haunted him like an echo of his own reflection. Then she saw who it was and her face lit up, like the sun coming out. “Mi—“

Mick didn’t give her time to finish. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her for all he was worth.

There was a moment of shock, then he was relieved to feel her melt into his arms as if she belonged there. _She does._

Eventually the kiss ended. Beth was staring up at him and he almost laughed at her stunned expression. She started to speak, to question no doubt, but he put a finger to her lips to silence her. Now that his brain was working a little, he had to be sure. “Was Josh just here, and did you break up because he said he wants a wife who’ll be there when he gets home from work, and not be second to her career?”

Beth nodded. “Were you here? How did you—“

Mick shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. Only one thing matters.”

“What?”

“This.” He drew her to him again, for a kiss that went on forever.

The end

12/31/07


End file.
